WALPA Annual Conference

2010 Conference

2009 Conference

Spokane Conference a Success!

On September 22^nd and 23rd WALPA members gathered at the Doubletree Hotel in Spokane to catch up with the goings of colleagues and fellow members and to hear speakers on a variety of topics. Citizens, tribal staff, consultants, lake association members and government officials—more than 110 people altogether—attended the annual conference, this year called “Healthy Watersheds and Clean Lakes-Working for a Sustainable Future”.

2008-2009 WALPA President Jonathan Frodge kicked off the event with a welcome and a call to action for WALPA members to be more engaged. Ideas included leading an effort to reinstate a statewide lakes program and working on lawn fertilizer legislation to keep lakes clean. Andy Dunau, from The Spokane River Forum followed up on Jonathan’s suggestions with a tough love pep talk that spoke to the need of implementing actions to follow the research. Also included in the opening session was exciting news from NALMS President Harry Gibbons confirming that the 2011 NALMS International Symposium will be held in Spokane! We look forward to this exciting event, as it proves to be one for the ages.

At Tuesday’s lunch, Glen Rothrock from Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and Dale Chess from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe spoke about the Coeur d’Alene Lake Management Plan and the multi-faceted approach needed for such a large undertaking.  The history of the Coeur d’Alene basin, with a once thriving mining and timber industry leaving a legacy of nutrients and minerals throughout the waterways, truly left the mark that our lakes are indeed often the repositories of what goes on in the watershed.  Dale Chess also spoke of a new model developed for the LMP which is designed to improve the understanding of the entire lake ecosystem as well assist in predicting water quality trends as management strategies are implemented.

Other sessions at the Spokane conference covered topics from community and volunteer work to aquatic invasive species to toxic cyanobacteria. Members also gathered for cocktails, snacks and networking Tuesday night and for a business meeting at Wednesday’s lunch. At the business meeting new board members were selected, WALPA’s public relations work on the Dish Detergent Phosphorus Ban was discussed, and any unanswered questions were satisfied.  

Eight vendors sponsored this year’s conference including Hach Hydromet, Earth Friendly Products, Clean Lakes LLC, AquaTechnex, , Aquatic Environments Inc., Northwest Aquatic Management, LLC, Electronic Data Solutions, Cygnet Enterprises NW Inc. , and Lakeland Restoration.  We also received sponsorship from Washington Department of Ecology. These generous sponsors helped make the 22^nd annual conference a great success – thank you!

We are still working in the initial stages of planning for next year’s conference, but rumor has it we will be heading to the west side of the state for WALPA 2010. Stay tuned and make space on your fall calendar now!

2009 Conference Program

2009 Conference list of attendees

2009 Premier conference sponsors include (click below for sponsor's website):
        Hach Hydromet - Hydrolab & OTT Products
        Earth Friendly Products
        Washington Department of Ecology
        Cygnet Enterprises
        Electronic Data Solutions

 

2008 Conference

WALPA 2008 Conference – Where rubber meets the road

Peter Goldmark, candidate for Lands Commissioner, kicked off the 2008 WALPA conference on September 30th. During his plenary speech, he tackled some very difficult questions that are concerns to lake managers and residents, like who is responsible for land at the bottom of lakes and how logging has been handled in past contributed to major floods. It was a great speaker for a year that is full of elections and political activity, even here within WALPA.

On the science side of things the first morning, members earned pesticide license recertification credits attending sessions learning about aquatic plant management issues and emerging aquatic plants, such as phragmites and milfoils (and its hybrids) susceptibility to herbicide. Lake Modeling and Data was also a popular session that ranged from TMDL modeling to eutrophication models. It was an opportunity for WALPA members to learn what strides have been made in lake science and what challenges face them as they try to protect and restore this valuable resource.

There were well attended sessions that focused on new/student work and community activism. Conference attendees were treated to learning how 2007 WALPA scholarship winner, Kelly Turner spent her summer in the North Cascade alpine lakes studying benthic macroinvertebrates for her master’s thesis at Western Washington University. WALPA members truly enjoyed hearing about student projects and meeting with the scholarship winners. We also had the pleasure of having citizens who are directly involved with the management of their lakes come and speak to us about how a community can organize to face some to the more challenging management issues. Some of the lakes are facing issues of noxious aquatic weeds and how the community has come together to survey, manage, and educate about the issues. Another lake community, Crystal Lake in Snohomish County, is using money generated by community timber harvest revenues to monitor the water quality and survey their lake.

The second day was filled with lake monitoring updates, toxicity in lakes and lake management issues. Lunch on the second day introduced the new WALPA board members and officers and included a short but productive business issues. Arlen Harris, the WALPA lobbyist, came and talked to the group about WALPA’s work down in Olympia. WALPA is very involved in passing two bills in this legislative session – one that is banning the use of phosphorus in residential fertilizers and the other asking the state to do a study that assess the needs of a state run lakes program. Both of these bills were introduced last year in 2007 and will be reintroduced in 2008. He talked about the importance of contacting your legislators and staying on top of the issues so that WALPA can pass these two very important bills (for more information go to www.walpa.org/legislation).

The conference closed with a bang. The room was packed, yet again, for blue-green algae talks. Kathy Hamel, of DOE, gave a talk about the state blue-green algae monitoring program and its successes in 2008 while Joan Hardy, of DOH, gave a talk on the recreational standards set by the state for algal toxins. Both Neil Harrington, form Jefferson County, and Ray Hanowell, Pierce County, gave talks on how toxic blue-green algae’s have affected their area lakes and what they are doing to manage it. This was the final wrap-up session to an exciting and very informative conference.

Jacob McCann, of Spokane County, is WALPAs president-elect and conference planner. According to the leaked planning details, the 2009 conference will be on the east side this next year, most likely in the Spokane area. Stay tuned and we hope to see everyone in 2009!

2008 Conference Program

2008 Conference list of attendees

2008 Conference photo contest winners

2008 Premier conference sponsors include (click below for sponsor's website):
        Hach Environmental
        Aquatechnex
        Washington Department of Ecology

 

2007 Conference

On October 18th and 19th WALPA members gathered at Campbell’s Resort in Lake Chelan to celebrate twenty years as an organization and to hear speakers on a variety of topics. Citizens, tribal staff, consultants, lake association members and government officials—more than 90 people altogether—attended the annual conference, this year called "Lakes – Bringing Science and Communities Together".

Jonathan Frodge from King County kicked off the plenary session suggesting directions WALPA could take as we head into our next 20 years. Ideas included leading an effort to reinstate a statewide lakes program and working on lawn fertilizer legislation to keep lakes clean. Senator Ken Jacobsen followed up on Jonathan’s suggestions with a presentation about developing meaningful and successful legislation.

At Thursday’s lunch, Bill Jarocki from the Boise State Environmental Finance Center spoke on "Saving Time and Finding Money to Achieve Results: A Watershed Approach." The talk focused on work his team has been doing to help people fund environmental enhancement and protection projects. Tools available include a searchable database of financial resources for watershed restoration in Washington and other states, a planning tool to help estimate project costs and a program that allows users to implement a long term financial strategy to meet strategic goals. All of these are available on-line and free to everyone at http://efc.boisestate.edu/efc/.

Other sessions at the Chelan conference covered topics from community and volunteer work to new legislation updating the state Shoreline Master Program to the ever-popular blue-green algae.

Members also gathered for cocktails and networking Thursday night and for a business meeting at Friday’s lunch. At the business meeting members selected new board members, met the new presidents, and asked general questions of the board and other members.

Ten vendors sponsored this year’s conference including Hach Environmental, Clean Lake LLC, AquaTechnex, TG-Eco-Logic, Aquatic Environments Inc., Northwest Aquatic Management, LLC, Electronic Data Solutions, Solar Bee and Cygnet Enterprises NW Inc. These generous sponsors helped make this year’s 20th anniversary conference a great success – thank you!

Next year’s conference is still coming together, but will be on the west side of the state in the fall Stay tuned and make space on your fall calendar now!

2007 Conference Program

2007 Conference list of attendees

2007 Conference photo contest winners

2007 Premier conference sponsors include (click below for sponsor's website):
        Hach Environmental
        Clean Lakes, Inc.
        Aquatechnex
        Washington Department of Ecology

 

2006 Conference

The Washington State Lake Protection Association (WALPA) and the Oregon Lakes Association (OLA) held a regional conference with support of the North American Lake Management Society and the Portland State University Center for Lakes and Reservoirs. The Pacific Northwest Regional Conference was held at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon on September 13th and 14th, 2006. This regional conference offered a unique opportunity to learn the concerns and challenges experienced by other Pacific Northwest states while forging connections among lake and resource managers, researchers, and citizens.

2006 Conference Program

2006 Conference list of attendees

2006 Conference photo contest winners

 

2005 Conference

WALPA's 18th annual conference was held at the Mirabeau Park Hotel in Spokane, Washington, from March 30 - April 1, 2005.  The conference theme was Lake Stewardship in the Pacific Northwest.

2005 Conference wrap-up (as part of the June 2005 issue of Waterline)

2005 Conference list of attendees

2005 Conference photo contest winners

Letter to members who missed the 2005 conference

 

2004 Conference

WALPA's 17th annual conference was held at the Lakeway Inn in Bellingham, Washington, from March 31-April 2, 2004.  The conference theme was Lakes Solutions for the 21st Century.

2004 Conference Program

2004 Conference list of attendees

2004 Conference photo contest winners

 

2003 Conference

WALPA’s 16^th annual conference was held at Campbell's Resort in Chelan Washington from April 2–4, 2003.  The conference theme was Lakeside Living and the conference included two full days (Thursday and Friday) of concurrent sessions that followed two tracks of interest.

2003 Preliminary Program and registration form

 

2002 Conference

2001 Conference

WALPA’s 14^th annual conference was held in Spokane, Washington from April 4 through 7, 2001.  The conference theme was Lakes, Reservoirs, and Watersheds with a Special Focus on Federal Initiatives.

2001 Annual Conference Program

2001 Annual conference list of attending organizations

 

 

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